Dual-Mode VOIP Handsets Could Take Off

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It’s a long way off, but dual-mode phones combining Wi-Fi and cellular technologies could make a huge splash by the end of the decade.

According to a new study from ABI Research, annual global sales of “dual-mode” mobile phones — which can connect to either a conventional cellular service or a Wi-Fi network — are likely to exceed 100 million in 2009.

Such dual-mode handsets have been virtually unknown to consumers until now, and have not penetrated the enterprise space to any degree either.

According to ABI Research senior analyst Philip Solis, some of the giants of global telecommunications — notably British Telecom and Korea Telecom — plan to offer dual-mode services by the end of 2005.

“The advantages of dual mode handsets and services, when they arrive, can be summed up in two words: seamless and economical,” he said. Though the full spectrum of capabilities won’t appear in the first generation of products, when these services are mature you will be able to start a phone call at home (where your phone connects to your residential Wi-Fi network and then to your broadband Voice over IP phone service), continue it in your car (where the phone switches to your cellular provider’s network), and wind it up at work, where the phone once more switches to your organization’s 802.11 LAN, and VoIP. Through all this, the handset would sense the available signals and switch automatically from one network mode to another, keeping you connected and saving you (and your company) money.”

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